from the sermon "The Surprise of a Spoiled Man" by Jimmy Johnson There was a certain rich man, splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen, who lived in luxury every single day. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered in sores, longing for the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs came and licked his wounds. That's the story Jesus tells in Luke 16:19-31, and it's not a light passage. It's a hard one. But it's a good one, and it's worth deeply thinking abo

In our era of digital saturation, the feeling of being perpetually overwhelmed has become the modern baseline. I've said it before: "Busy" is the new "Fine." Someone asks how things are going and we say, "Busy!" We are busier than ever, yet we must confront a sobering question: are we actually being fruitful, or merely moving quickly? This struggle for focus is ancient. The Ephesian culture was notoriously distracting, saturated with the cultic influences of Demeter, Cybele,